A nice white Lemmon

Been dreaming about a white Lemmon for quite awhile, ever since the New Year’s Eve snowstorm here.  Finally got one yesterday, as we saw.   Here are a few extra Lemmons for you:

3:11 PM.
3:11 PM.
3:42 PM.
3:42 PM.
Finsihing off here with an orange Lemmon, if that's possible, at 6:50 PM.
Finsihing off here with an orange Lemmon, if that’s possible, at 6:50 PM.

Yesterday’s clouds

(includes photo of a small, cute dog)

 

7:58 AM. Two layers of Stratocumulus.
7:58 AM. Not one, but two layers of Stratocumulus.
DSC_0014
7:58 AM.
7:59 AM.
7:59 AM.  Interesting how the scattering of diffuse light through the clouds lights up our cherished cholla cacti.
8:57 AM. Paper flowers still going.... They're not used for making paper, btw.
8:57 AM. Paper flowers still going…. They’re not used for making paper, btw.
9:30 AM. Occasional sprinkles fell from these clouds. Might have been due to ice, but texture also suggests drizzle formation (or warm rain processes, wherein larger cloud droplets collide to form drops big enough to fall out.) I hope your cloud diary also reflected this ambiguity.
9:30 AM. Occasional sprinkles fell from these clouds.  Likely was  due to ice, but texture  if the precip also suggests drizzle formation (or warm rain processes, wherein larger cloud droplets collide to form drops big enough to fall out.) I hope your cloud diary also reflected this ambiguity.
3:42 PM. Small Cumulus provide the light and shadow show on the Catalinas, one of the best things about living here.
3:42 PM. Later in the afternoon, small Cumulus provide the light and shadow show on the Catalinas, one of the best things about living here.  No ice evident.

DSC_5675Looking closer, I hope you recorded the slight fall streaks (fallstreifen, ger.) in the scene above.  It would have been quite an important observation for you to have acquired since these small clouds had not shown ice prior to this time.  See below for the VERY delicate trails emanating from this Cumulus mediocris cloud; look between and above the orangish rock faces on the top of Sam Peak and a bit to the left:

6:48 PM.
6:48 PM.  Fine snow trails fall between and above the two orange colored rock faces on the left side.
The baloooooon sounding launched from the U of AZ at 3:30 PM yesterday.
The baloooooon sounding launched from the U of AZ at 3:30 PM yesterday.  Where the lines pinch together was likely around cloud top, or about -10 C, close to the natural ice forming temperature we usually see here in AZ.  More ice fell from layer clouds to the north at sunset, that were colder still.

The weather ahead, way out there

Next rain chance in about a week.  Looks like May will start out hot, but “too hot not to cool down”,  to quote Louis Prima and Keely Smith doing the Porter songbook, and pretty much that cool down before the month is hardly underway.  I am sure lingering snowbirds, not wanting to have their feathers singed, will be glad to  receive this news.

How can we say that with any acuity?

Check the spaghetti!  Looky below at how troughy the flow is by about the 8th of May (red lines dipping toward the Equator along the West Coast).  No extreme heat then, just normal warmth or below average “warmth.”  This is a circulation pattern that persists, too.  And with “troughy”, there’s always the chance of a rogue rain.

Valid on May 8th, 5 PM AST. No heat here. Some snowbirds have clearly left too early IMO.
Valid on May 8th, 5 PM AST. No heat here. Some snowbirds have clearly left too early IMO.

 

The End.

Author: Art Rangno

Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group). The projects in which I participated were in many countries; from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.